Sidney Lumet, honorary Academy Award winner.

Director Sidney Lumet has been voted an Honorary Award by the Board of Governors of the Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences.

The Award, an Oscar® statuette, will be presented at the 77th Academy Awards® Presentation on February 27, 2005 . The Honorary Award will be given to Lumet to honor his "brilliant services to screenwriters, performers and the art of the motion picture."

"Lumet is one of the most important film directors in the history of American cinema," said Academy President Frank Pierson, "and his work has left an indelible mark on both audiences and the history of film itself. It was a great personal pleasure and professional honor to call Sidney to tell him he'd won his profession's highest honor."

The son of actor Baruch Lumet and dancer Eugenia Wermus, Lumet was born in Philadelphia and made his stage debut at New York's Yiddish Art Theater at the age of four, acting until the 1950s when he began working as a television director.

Lumet made his feature film debut in 1957 with the widely praised "12 Angry Men," which earned him an Academy Award nomination for directing.

He has earned three additional directing nominations, for "Dog Day Afternoon" in 1975, "Network" in 1976 and "The Verdict" in 1982, as well as a nomination for adapted screenplay (with Jay Presson Allen) for "Prince of the City" in 1981.

His more than 40 films include such additional titles as "Running on Empty," "The Wiz," "Equus," "Murder on the Orient Express," "Serpico," "Fail-Safe," "The Pawnbroker" and "Long Day's Journey into Night."

Lumet's Honorary Oscar will be presented, along with other Academy Awards for outstanding film achievements of 2004, on Sunday, February 27, at the Kodak Theatre at Hollywood & Highland® . The Oscars® will be televised live by the ABC Television Network beginning at 5:00 p.m. PST ( 8 p.m. EST ) with a half-hour arrival segment preceding the presentation ceremony.